President Uli Hoeness persuaded Rummenigge that the right man was Kovac, who endured a storm of criticism inside his first three months following back-to-back Bundesliga defeats by Hertha Berlin and Moenchengladbach.

Bayern still won the league and cup double last season, but the writing was again on the wall last month when Hoffenheim pulled off a shock 2-1 win in Munich. Sloppy defending also saw Bayern concede a late goal in their 2-2 draw at Augsburg a fortnight ago. Various betting options are available on NaijaBet.com

An unconvincing 3-2 victory at Olympiakos in the Champions League the following game moved Rummenigge to brand the performance “careless”.

“I don’t think the performance we produced will bring us serious success this season,” he said in a thinly-veiled dig at Kovac.

Kovac, after his dismissal, was quoted as saying “this is the correct decision for the club”, and he was never able to allay concerns he was a big enough name for a club of Bayern’s stature.

Following spells under elite coaches in Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti, Bayern will search for a successor of similar ilk to replace Kovac, whose assistant Hansi Flick will take charge for Wednesday’s Champions League game at home to Olympiakos.

Boateng is now suspended for Saturday’s home Bundesliga clash against Dortmund with right-back Benjamin Pavard likely to shift into the centre.

Similarly, Kovac’s replacement must solve the same puzzling issue of where to regularly play Thomas Mueller, who made his 500th appearance for Bayern on Saturday yet was frustrated under Kovac by a lack of game time.

Whoever does get the Bayern job, however, still has a good chance of success this season.

Bayern top their Champions League group after three straight wins and are through to the last 16 of the German Cup, while they only trail leaders Gladbach by four points in the league.